President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) last Thursday encouraging more state and local governments to clear homeless encampments and pursue involuntary commitments for individuals with psychiatric and substance abuse issues. The EO seeks to move American cities away from Housing First policies and harm reduction models, while refocusing efforts on enforcement measures and mental health.
The EO states that “endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe.” It adds that “the Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats.”
It includes the following provisions:
- Directs the Attorney General, in conjunction with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to seek reversal of federal or state judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees which make it more difficult to commit mentally ill individuals to psychiatric facilities.
- Directs the government to use federal resources to ensure that those who are committed are not released solely because of a lack of beds.
- Prioritizes federal grants and offers technical assistance to states and municipalities that enforce bans on encampments, urban squatting, and open drug use (as opposed to those with harm reduction programs). It also supports governments that track the locations of registered sex offenders without a fixed address.
- Directs the U.S. Department of Justice to determine whether a homeless person arrested for a federal crime qualifies as a "sexually dangerous person."
The EO was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Disability Rights Network, and other advocacy groups. Critics say the policy ignores empirical data on the root causes of homelessness, such as a lack of affordable housing. They argue that the administration is embracing “punitive” measures that could violate civil rights.
Some experts believe the EO could be used to withhold federal dollars from California. Federal funds could also be re-directed away from municipalities that have embraced Housing First and harm reduction policies, and moved toward localities that are cracking down on encampments instead. Over the past year, at least 50 California cities have banned public camping, according to researchers at UC Berkeley.
Trump’s EO has been compared to one issued by Governor Gavin Newsom in May. The Governor’s spokesperson Tara Gallegos called the President's EO a “poorly executed” imitation. Like Trump, Newsom has been using a carrot-and-stick approach to encourage localities to clean up encampments and issue more citations for people who sleep outdoors.
For years, families, first responders, and mental health professionals have complained about the difficulty of coercing treatment for people with severe mental illness. Those challenges — which are acknowledged by Trump’s EO — prompted Newsom to create California’s first Care Court system in 2022.
However, the Trump administration’s push to institutionalize more individuals appears at odds with its efforts to reduce public assistance. According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, most mental health and substance abuse treatment in the U.S. is paid for by Medicaid — and roughly one in three mentally ill people are Medicaid recipients. Cuts to the program under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” are expected to result in the disenrollment of 12 million of people, leaving many without options for treatment.